[Missing] March 2022 PNW Wx Discussion

[Skagit Weather]

5 hours ago, TacomaWaWx said:

Interesting that your location ended up wetter than normal this month unlike here…yet are below normal for the year while we’re above normal here. 
 I find these precipitation maps pretty cool to look at…looks like I’m right on the border of below and above normal rainfall for March. 

Yeah, I always like to look at them at the end of the month to get an overall sense of the climate of the region. Of course they have their flaws as well. They are based on individual stations I believe which then are extrapolated out to cover the rest of the map. That can of course lead to super anomalous maps when a single station is incorrectly reporting (or gets hit with a very localized heavy rain event).

In terms of precipitation, we're technically still ahead of normal on the water year because of how wet November was, but honestly other than Whatcom county the precipitation has done a pretty good job of evenly coating all of Western Washington even though some months have been more anomalous than others in different regions.

[Meatyorologist]

1 hour ago, DJ Droppin said:

La Nina returns in April! C'MON!!!!

00z GFS 10 Day Rainfall, Snowfall totals.

Last year we had ice pellets in April. Can we get accumulating snow this year?? #2008ing

[Meatyorologist]

51 minutes ago, Skagit Weather said:

Yeah, I always like to look at them at the end of the month to get an overall sense of the climate of the region. Of course they have their flaws as well. They are based on individual stations I believe which then are extrapolated out to cover the rest of the map. That can of course lead to super anomalous maps when a single station is incorrectly reporting (or gets hit with a very localized heavy rain event).

In terms of precipitation, we're technically still ahead of normal on the water year because of how wet November was, but honestly other than Whatcom county the precipitation has done a pretty good job of evenly coating all of Western Washington even though some months have been more anomalous than others in different regions.

I've also found that these maps badly render actual base "normal" precipitation. Sometimes they'll represent "dry" areas where there is natural downsloping, and vice versa for upsloping areas. For instance, is Sequim really as anomalously dry as depicted in this graphic, or does the map simply misestimate that region's relatively dry climate; blending in the wetter normals of the rest of western Washington? Same goes for the Forks area and the cascade foothills, on the wet end of the spectrum. Taken literally this map would depict a wet season with a tighter than usual gradient between mountain precip and sound precip.

[TacomaWaWx]

2 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

I've also found that these maps badly render actual base "normal" precipitation. Sometimes they'll represent "dry" areas where there is natural downsloping, and vice versa for upsloping areas. For instance, is Sequim really as anomalously dry as depicted in this graphic, or does the map simply misestimate that region's relatively dry climate; blending in the wetter normals of the rest of western Washington? Same goes for the Forks area and the cascade foothills, on the wet end of the spectrum. Taken literally this map would depict a wet season with a tighter than usual gradient between mountain precip and sound precip.

They’re definitely not 100% accurate. It’s a broad brush especially considering how many microclimates are in western WA but still can paint a decent picture. 

[TacomaWaWx]

Well nobody started a new April thread from what I saw so I started one. 

[Skagit Weather]

10 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

I've also found that these maps badly render actual base "normal" precipitation. Sometimes they'll represent "dry" areas where there is natural downsloping, and vice versa for upsloping areas. For instance, is Sequim really as anomalously dry as depicted in this graphic, or does the map simply misestimate that region's relatively dry climate; blending in the wetter normals of the rest of western Washington? Same goes for the Forks area and the cascade foothills, on the wet end of the spectrum. Taken literally this map would depict a wet season with a tighter than usual gradient between mountain precip and sound precip.

Yeah, you're right. According to ACIS Sequim is 122% of normal on the water year so definitely not below normal. Maybe for precipitation the PRISM estimates are slightly more accurate although they have their own problems as well probably.

 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

36F and partly cloudy.